Pakistani stocks steady after investors given exit

KARACHI, July 18 (Reuters) - Pakistani stocks rose in early trade on Friday, after a special trading session organised by the Karachi Stock Exchange the previous night to provide an exit for those investors desperate to get out of a rapidly sinking market.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index .KSE rose 0.94 percent, or 95.66 points, to 10,308.58 on turnover of 64.2 million shares by 9:58 a.m. (0358 GMT).

The free-float KSE-30 share index .KSE30 was up 1.46 percent to 11,623.84 points.

"A lot of investors who were stuck have been given an exit and a lot has been settled," said Shuja Rizvi, director broking operations at Capital One Equities Ltd.

"We are witnessing healthy buying as stocks are at attractive prices."

The KSE held a special trading session on Thursday evening to allow investors who wanted to buy or sell, at the previous closing prices, were given an opportunity to do so by listing their bids and offers at the National Clearing House. See [IDn:SIN65305]

As of Thursday's closing, the KSE-index shed 12.7 percent so far this week and was down 35 percent from a life high on April 21. Total market capitalisation has fallen to about $44 billion from a peak near $75 billion.

However dealers said macroeconomic and political uncertainty would keep the market under pressure.

Among the most active companies, Dewan Cement (DECE.KA) fell 3.5 percent to 9.75 rupees, Bank of Punjab (BOPU.KA) shed 2.6 percent to 22.60 rupees, while Pakistan Oil Fields (PKOL.KA) gained 1 percent to 287.25 rupees. (Reporting by Sahar Ahmed)